


Adventures in Evening Attire

by Roshwen



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: And a belated little Christmas scene, And so does Ezekiel, Because I love them and want them to have nice things, Fluff, Gen, Humor, No really the cases are very very tiny and not the point here, TW for outrageously fluffy fic, The point is the pjs, based on a tumblr prompt, mini cases
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-30 00:00:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17213309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roshwen/pseuds/Roshwen
Summary: It started, as no one was entirely surprised to find out, with Flynn.





	Adventures in Evening Attire

**Author's Note:**

> So this is for [BabylonsFall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabylonsFall/pseuds/BabylonsFall), who said on Tumblr: 'you can’t tell me every single person in the Library hasn’t stumbled in at least once through the backdoor in nothing but their pjs because they got an emergency message and weren’t completely awake enough to figure out all the steps in between. the only thing up for debate here is the sliding scale of embarrassing pjs'.
> 
> I'd be happy to discuss the pj arrangements in here with you in the comments!

It started, as no one was entirely surprised to find out, with Flynn.

‘Alright alright alright _alright,_ what’s all this fuss about? Let me see, let me see… OK, big river acting up in the middle of the night, that _is_ odd. Still no reason to lift us all from our beds at three in the morning but what do we think, hm? Water sprites? Genius loci no happy? Mermaids? I had a kerfuffle with some mermaids once, I am _not_ looking forward to… where did everybody go?’

At this point, the only one who had not backed away to the farthest corners of the Annex while also furiously looking anywhere _but_ at Flynn, was Eve. And that was only because she was fixing him with that Eve Baird™ glare that said, as loud as any spoken word _I am secretly very very amused by this and refraining from laughing at you only by sheer force of will._

‘Uhm,’ came a squeak from somewhere behind Jenkins’ desk. ‘Flynn. Don’t you… I mean. I think you forgot something?’

Flynn looked from Cassandra (at least he assumed it was Cassandra: all he saw was a hint of red hair in between the bookshelves) back to Eve. ‘Huh? No! No, I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything, on the contrary: I am as prepared for this mission as any of you, so let’s go!’

‘Flynn,’ Eve said, in that very patient tone Flynn had come to love and dread. ‘ _We’ll_ go. And when you have gone to your room, and put on some pants _,_ then perhaps you can come and join us.’

Flynn looked down.

There was a polite cough. And coughs should not have an accent, but against all probability, this one did. (It also did not sound all _that_ polite, now that Flynn thought about it). ‘Although kudos for the Indiana Jones tee, mate. Well done. Nice to see someone stick to the classics.’

Eve glared harder. Which meant, as Flynn well knew, that she was very close to cracking. ‘Shut up, Jones,’ she managed, voice not even wobbling one bit. ‘Flynn. Tell me all about that thing you said about genius loci and then you can go get changed while we set up a door to Egypt.’

Flynn nodded. Straightened up from where he was still poring over the Clippings Book and, while trying to maintain furious eye contact with all three of his LiTs and Eve Baird at the same time, launched into his explanation of location spirits and their occasional tantrums.

He didn’t feel it was his most inspiring lecture, for some reason.

\---

Three weeks later and it was one of the best nights of Ezekiel’s life, although it did not exactly start out that way.

It was another midnight Clippings Book emergency: three girls in a Scottish boarding school had been sent home because they were having the most terrible nightmares, causing panic and anxiety that did not go away during the day. And Ezekiel, being familiar enough with night terror himself, was not planning on letting whatever was causing this get away with inflicting that kind of fear on a ten-year-old.

Judging by Jake’s dark scowl and the way Cassandra bit her lip, they both felt the same way.

The three of them were gathered around the Clippings Book, reading up on whatever information it chose to provide, when Eve Baird walked in, rubbing her eyes to conceal a yawn. ‘OK, guys. Report. What’s going on and what are we going to do about it?’

Silence. Huge, pink, warm silence that stretched and stretched until it snapped under its own weight as Jake started to snigger. He bit it back almost immediately, but Eve still heard and directed a bleary eyed but still impressive glare his way. ‘Stone, you want to tell me what’s so… oh, God _damn_ it!’

Ezekiel had never given the sleeping attire of his coworkers much thought. If asked, he’d probably guess that Eve slept in some kind of flannel pantsuit or something, or that she nicked old t-shirts from Flynn. He would not, never, in a million years, have thought of this.

He wasn’t sure what it was called. But it was smooth and silky and shiny, almost-but-not-quite knee-length, in a soft cream color that went very well with Eve’s eyes and hair. It had spaghetti straps and a low ( _very_ low) neckline, which showed a lot more of Eve Baird’s upper torso that Ezekiel ever wanted to see. Also, lace ruffles. Both at the neckline and the hem, where Ezekiel was _not_ looking because he was too busy not to start sniggering himself.

‘ _Nice,’_ was all Jake could say, before he was silenced with another glare. If looks could kill, the cowboy would have been a bubbling puddle on the floor. Behind Ezekiel, well out of the way of Eve’s wrath, he heard distinctive girly giggle but still _he_ was the one that got the dirty look which was completely unfair, given the way he had to work to keep his face in check.

‘Get to work,’ Eve snapped, cheeks flaming almost as red as Cassandra’s hair. ‘And get the door set up. I’ll be back in five and I want _all_ of you ready to go. Is that understood?’

Ezekiel’s grin could have lit up a city. ‘Copy that, Colonel. Copy that.’

\---

_Cowboy: Need your help. Can you be at the Annex in ten? Also, how are you at babysitting?_

As far as ‘please come over’ texts went, Ezekiel thought a little surly as he made his way through the dark hallway towards the Annex, this one did not rank very high on his ‘I’m in for a good time’-o-meter. Never mind that he had nothing else to do with his evening; he’d still have liked it to spend it by himself, and not come running because the cowboy needed him.

But then again. The cowboy _did_ need him, and so Ezekiel came running.

Still muttering uncharitable things under his breath, Ezekiel pushed open the door, stepped into the Annex, blinked against the flood of lights that was burning there and then stopped dead.

Because Jake was sitting on a low bench (that had not been there when they had all left for the night, Ezekiel was pretty certain), hugging something small so tight that all Ezekiel could see was a mop of dark brown hair. A very distinctive shade of dark brown, in fact.

‘Uhm,’ he started. Jake looked up and the relief in his eyes made Ezekiel forget all about his earlier crankiness. ‘What’s going on?’

Jake’s mouth twisted in a rueful smile. ‘Jones, this is Jamie. She’s ah, she’s not really havin’ a good night.’

By now, the girl in his lap had turned her head to look at him. She couldn’t be more than five years old, and Ezekiel caught sight of a puffy, red-rimmed eye and a lot of general wetness. ‘Right.  Yeah. I can see that.’

‘And I need to get back to Oklahoma to give her pa the thrashing of a lifetime, but I can’t really take her with me for that and I can’t leave her here alone,’ Jake continued. He didn’t even have to voice the question: Ezekiel was already sitting down next to him, gently extricating Jamie from his arms despite her muffled protests. ‘Go. I’ve got her.’

‘Thank you.’ Jake’s voice sounded even rougher than usual as he got up, planted a kiss to Jamie’s head and started making his way to the Back Door, which was still glowing. ‘Really. Jones, I owe you for this. Thank you.’

‘Don’t thank me, mate,’ Ezekiel grinned, while trying to manhandle a still complaining Jamie in a position that put a little less pressure on certain parts of his anatomy.  ‘But you _might_ want to hold off on charging back immediately. Uhm. Unless you’re planning to play Jamie’s knight in shining flannel?’

Jake looked down. At a plaid shirt that, granted, looked very comfy but was also so worn it was almost see-trough, held tight only by the grace of the two remaining buttons. And at his pants, which were frayed, balding in certain places and which might have been either black or blue or grey or even purple once. ‘Oh. Right. Shi-irt. Sorry about that.’

‘No worries,’ Ezekiel said, still grinning. ‘You get yourself to Oklahoma and in the meantime, I’ll tell Jamie a story about the cowboy in the striped pajamas. I bet you she’ll like that.’

Jamie giggled. Jake glared. ‘I see the two of you are gonna get along like a house on fire.’

‘You say that like it’s a bad thing, cowboy.’

\---

‘… _Five for silver, six for gold…’_

_‘_ Nope. _Five for heaven, six for hell.’_

‘Jones, will you stop interrupting! _Seven for a secret, never to be told.’_ There. Magpies in London clustering together in groups of seven, there’s a secret we gotta find out.’

‘Cowboy, it’s _Seven is the devil, his old self._ There’s obviously a demon on the loose down there. We gotta…’

At this point, Eve had had enough. ‘Guys, stop. Both of you. We’ll find out whether there’s a secret or a demon soon enough when we get there. Now, has either of you seen Cassandra?’

Jacob looked up, after directing one last irritated scowl at Ezekiel. It was 9.30 at a Tuesday morning and they were about to start their first case of the week, but so far, there had been no sign of their whirlwind redhead mathemagician. ‘Nope. Not yet. You mean she hasn’t been in yet?’

That was worrying. Cassandra usually liked getting an early start to her day, preferring to wake up with tea and some light mathematical conundrum instead of snoozing herself into oblivion. Jake could appreciate that.

Eve shook her head and opened her mouth to reply, but right then, the Back Door lit up and spit out the girl in question, stumbling into the Annex in a flood of apologies. ‘I’m here, I’m here, I’m sorry I’m late but I’m here now so where are we going today, huh? China? Dubai? Rio? Don’t mind me, I’m ready to go anywhere to save the world!’

Jake blinked. And then smiled. ‘Well, good morning to you too, darlin’. You wanna go to London? There’s some kind of hinky stuff going on with magpies over there.’

Cassandra lit up. ‘Oh, I know that one! ‘ _One for sorrow…’_

‘ _Don’t,’_ Eve snapped. ‘Cassandra. One moment before we go, please?’

‘You might wanna get changed first, princess,’ Ezekiel said, before Eve could continue. He was grinning too, Jake noticed, but in that annoying soft little way he seemed to reserve especially for his team members. And speaking of soft…

It was pink. That was one of the first things Jake registered, and for a couple of seconds, it was the _only_ thing he registered. A violent, vibrant electric pink that clashed horrendously with Cassandra’s flaming red hair. Upon further inspection, he could make out tiny unicorns in a slightly less aggressive shade, dancing and prancing all over the fabric. The fabric which, by the way, looked _incredibly_ soft. Warm and cozy and fluffy like the pelt of a big dog, and Jake could not help the brief urge to reach out and pet her arm, just to feel it for himself.

‘Rough night, Cassie?’ he asked instead, grinning as she started to blush so furiously, it almost matched her pjs.

Cassandra shook her head. ‘No! No, I just… got caught up in something. And overslept. Uhm. I’ll go back and change, you can go on ahead and I’ll meet you in London?’

She darted back towards the Back Door, which was still active, but apparently, Ezekiel was not letting her get off that easily. ‘Aw, come on, Cass. At least tell us his name?’

Cassandra turned around. ‘Stephen Day,’ she said, eyes narrowed. ‘There’s these books I found yesterday and… wait. Did you say magpies?’

\---

‘This is going to be a nightmare,’ Eve sighed, stepping away from the Clippings Book and rubbing her eyes. ‘Where the hell is Jones when you need him?’

Jake wholeheartedly agreed with both sentiments there, but still. He had to say it. ‘You really think it’d be safe to send him in?’

 ‘No. But I think one of us going in would be an even worse idea,’ Cassandra said, making a face a face. ‘Can you imagine what’ll happen if three Americans show up at the North Korean border without the paperwork? Without wanting to tell anybody what they’re doing there? We can’t exactly go there and tell people we’re investigating these flash floods that might be magical, they’ll have us arrested before you can say ‘espionage’.’

‘Did someone say North Korean border?’ came a drowsy voice from the direction of the Back Door. Jake turned and saw that their thief had chosen to finally grace them with his presence. He stepped into the Annex and the door closed behind him with a hum. ‘Alright. I’m game. Flash floods, you reckon it’s the same thing as in Egypt? Genius loco or what was it?’

‘Might be,’ Jake conceded, doing a bad job at keeping his serious face. ‘Might very well be. Err, Jones. You really think it’s a good idea to go down there by yourself?’

Ezekiel frowned and directed an offended look in Jake’s direction. ‘Give me one good reason I shouldn’t go, cowboy.’

‘Well,’ Jake started, holding up a finger in true theatrical fashion. ‘For one thing. You don’t speak the language. What if you run into border patrol? You’ll be made the moment you open your mouth.’

Ezekiel shrugged. ‘I’ll play mute.’

Cassandra nodded gravely. ‘Okay. Sure. But what if they want to know if you want to be Anna or if you’re more of an Elsa?’

Ezekiel looked at her for a long second. Then: ‘Ah, _bloody_ hell.’

That was the moment Jake broke, together with Cassandra. All of Ezekiel’s protestations, that it was a _present_ guys, _honestly_ and it was actually _very_ comfortable and he wasn’t gonna go and throw it out just because it was light blue and had some snowflakes on it, fell on deaf ears as the Annex shook with uproarious laughter. Even Ezekiel himself could not hide a bashful grin as he turned back to the Back Door, punching in the coordinates to his wherever-it-was-that-he-went-at-night. ‘Alright, you laugh. That’s fair. I’ll just stand here and remind you that it’s actually gonna be Christmas in like a month, and I haven’t gotten you all presents yet.’ He grinned. ‘But I will.’

And with that, he disappeared. Jake shook his head, sniggered again and then went back to the Clippings Book, thinking no more of it.

\---

Until the day after Christmas broke, and they all found themselves with one additional present on their desks, wrapped in red paper and topped with a golden bow.

It turned out Ezekiel had been generous: he had not just gone the easy, petty ‘don’t take these pjs seriously’ route; he had actually included some nice ones for everybody as well. Something soft and silky for Eve, underneath the oversized Mulan t-shirt. A bright yellow duckling-themed heap of fluff for Cassandra, next to an equally soft Little Mermaid set. And last, but certainly not least, _two_ pairs of plaid flannel shirts and pants (with a note reading _looked like you could use ‘em_ ) for Jake, which looked and felt a whole lot sturdier than his own threadbare sleeping wear.

For that, Jake could almost. _Almost._ Forgive the baby pink Cinderella pajamas they came with. Almost.

**Author's Note:**

> PS, the 'Stephen Day' Cassandra has *ahem* spent the night with is from the brilliant [Charm of Magpies](http://kjcharleswriter.com/charm-of-magpies/) series by KJ Charles. If you are into adult (very adult, ngl, naughty Cassie tsk tsk) m/m paranormal romance, I highly recommend you read this. The ebooks are like a dollar each on Amazon, so don't let that stop you.


End file.
